We don't mean to make you jealous but...: It's been a fun few days

After a mammoth amount of snow, we've had a good few days on the slopes, and had some fun apres skiing! On Monday, we went out for some skiing/boarding over at the Gem Lake area, on a beautiful bluebird day. A few runs later, we headed in for lunch and then went out for a hike towards Black Forest, using the groomed nordic trails and some snowshoe paths, that were well trodden, so no need for snowshoes. After a quick snooze, we then had our tickets department party at the steakhouse at Happy Valley. Very nice food and company, and the annual awards ceremony! Adam is proud to be the recipient of the most sarcastic, and together, we were voted best couple! (Slightly worrying prizes, as you'll see below!)
After a slightly groggy start, we headed out early yesterday for a free staff trip over to the sister resort of Silverstar, located somewhere near Vernon - about 2 hours drive away. Lots of us from tickets were there, feeling a bit delicate. Silverstar is very twee. It's meant to be "Victorian", but is actually rather more reminiscent of a wild west town, painted in gaudy colours. Nicer than the brown and brown that we have here at BW though. Adam headed off with some of our boarder friends, determined to have a blast down the black diamonds, while I stuck with another boarder colleague, and we stuck to more sedate green and blues. We managed to stay on cat tracks and roads for a lot of it - challenging for boarders when the run goes flat!
Silverstar is quite interesting to look at though - much denser tree coverage, so less tree runs, but some quite steep groomed runs. It is also nestled in between a slightly curvy mountain, where BW is a much flatter hill. Lots of nordic trails and skidoo trails intercut the runs. It was also totally empty of other people. We could go for ages without seeing anyone. It was a good day out, though we were all completely pooped by the end of it.